Group viewed as most talented in a decade

INDIANAPOLIS — Chris Harris nearly did a spit take last week when he caught wind of the latest NFL draft hot take.

Harris, the Broncos' three-time all-pro cornerback, who was undrafted out of Kansas in 2011, knows as well as any player that the buildup to the draft, the fine-toothed comb of an evaluation process that produces more scrutiny each year, creates a wide range of head-scratching opinions. And Harris is also receiver-blanketing proof that those opinions often don't carry weight.

Still, Harris couldn't make sense out of Bill Polian, the former Indianapolis Colts general manager who now makes a living as an NFL analyst at ESPN, opining that Lamar Jackson, the former Louisville quarterback and 2016 Heisman Trophy winner, should shift to a different position as he enters the league.

Doubts about quarterbacks who achieved a high level of success in college aren't uncommon ahead of the draft. With hours and hours of programming to fill, this is the period of the NFL season that thrives on floating opinions, however head-scratching they may be, into the stratosphere, fueling debate about a player's future in the league long before he puts on a pro uniform.

But as the league prepares to host its annual scouting combine this week, a high-profile group of quarterbacks, collectively viewed as one of the most talented groups at the position in at least a decade, has a chance to put the noise to rest.

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"The NFL teams have to get to know these kids," said Mike Mayock, a draft analyst for the NFL Network. "What makes them tick? What kind of passion do they have for the game? What is their work ethic? How are they at raising the level of play with people around them? Are they natural leaders? Are they the face of your program? All of those things are critical."

The quarterback class of 2018, which enters the NFL at a time when nearly a third of the teams in the league — a group that features the Broncos — are searching for one. Scan the lists for most draft analysts and the same four names reside at the top: Sam Darnold of USC, Josh Rosen of UCLA, Josh Allen of Wyoming and Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma.

Then there is Jackson. As a Heisman Trophy winner who collected the 25-pound statue by shredding defenses at a historic pace with his legs as much as his quick-firing right arm, Jackson is fighting a stigma that has long been placed upon the top dual-threat prospects entering the NFL, players such as Charlie Ward, Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel.

But Jackson also may serve as a litmus test for all the NFL teams who have professed in recent months, as Harris suggested, that they are willing to follow the path the Philadelphia Eagles paved to the Super Bowl this month and incorporate more college-QB-friendly spread concepts into their offenses.

Jackson mastered those concepts on the way to becoming the first quarterback in NCAA history to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. Defending him as he employed the read-pass option was about as easy as guarding likely NBA MVP James Harden in the pick-and-roll.

Mayock believes there will be at least one NFL team come April's draft ready to push its franchise in such a direction.

"I think (Jackson) is the most electrifying player in this draft, and I think somebody's going to take him and commit their offensive philosophy to him," Mayock said. "I would tell you that the most nervous 31 people in the league would be the defensive coordinators that would have to play against him."

Yet Mayock himself still has Jackson rated as the fifth quarterback in the class, illustrating the climb still faced by a player — even one built in the mold of last year's break-out rookie star, Deshaun Watson — who falls outside the category of the league's so-called conventional quarterback.

Even those at the top of this class who are deemed safer choices have plenty to prove. Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman winner, will face questions about his size and previous off-field incidents. Rosen will field queries about his injury history. Allen must prove he can be more consistent. Darnold will have to explain a dip in production during his second season as a starter at USC.

One week in Indianapolis without football pads won't stop all the concerns and doubts raised about 2018's quarterbacks. But it will allow them to have a greater stake in the conversation. And it will be time for the league's quarterback-needy teams, the Broncos prominently among them, to listen.

"The heart and finding out what they have inside, that's the difficult part," Broncos general manager John Elway said last month. "Not only at the quarterback position, it's about every position because it comes down to what's inside, what's in that heart, how bad they want it and how great they want to be. If they want to be great football players, they have a chance to be great."

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